Three held in LPG theft racket

Vadodara: Three persons were arrested and while one was on the run for their alleged involvement in a domestic gas theft racket.
The special operations group (SOG) of city police raided the house of Jayesh Bharwad on VIP Road on Friday after receiving information that he was siphoning off gas from sealed cylinders at his home.
At Bharwad’s house police found Jignesh Mali, a pick-up van driver, working for Happy Home Gas Agency, which is owned by Hiren Sukhadia, son of BJP MLA Jitendra Sukhadia. Mali told police that he brings the van to Bharwad’s home where he and Bharwad’s man Vipul Bharwad remove some gas from sealed cylinders used for domestic and commercial purposes.
Mali, his helper Hemant Mali and Vipul were nabbed and Jayesh has been declared as wanted.
This is the second such case in connection with the gas agency owned by Hiren. In September last year, Sama police had booked two delivery agents of the agency for stealing LPG from the bottles. The district supply office had caught the tempo driver and helper while stealing the gas.